History of the Jews in Kolkata
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The history of the Jews in Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) in India, dates back to the eighteenth century. The Jewish community of Kolkata are mostly Baghdadi Jews. In the heyday of the Jewish settlement in Kolkata the community was 6,000 strong. The community declined in numbers after the formation of the Jewish state of Israel. At present there are fewer than 100 Jews in Kolkata.
Contents
History
During the British rule in India, Kolkata was a thriving metropolis, the capital of British India and the commercial hub of India. It attracted numerous trading communities including the Jews. The first recorded Jewish immigrant to Kolkata was Shalom Aharon Obadiah Cohen, who arrived in Kolkata in 1798. Cohen was born in Aleppo in present-day Syria in 1762. He arrived in Surat in the year 1792 and established himself as a trader before moving to Kolkata. In 1805, his nephew Moses Simon Duek Ha Cohen arrived in Kolkata. He married his eldest daughter Lunah. In the early nineteenth century the Baghdadi Jews began to settle in large numbers in Kolkata, thus outnumbering the Jews from Aleppo.
Culture
The first generation of Jewish settlers in Kolkata spoke Judeo-Arabic at home and adhered to their Arabic style of costumes. The next generation of Jews adopted European dress and lifestyle and English as their language of communication.
There is Jewish cemetery at Narkeldanga Main Road and another private cemetery at U.C.Banerjee Road.
Synagogues
The Jewish community has five independent synagogues in Kolkata, out of which two are in use. The first synagogue, now known as the Old Synagogue, was built by Shalome David Cohen.[1] In 1825, Ezekiel Judah Jacob built the Neveh Shalom Synagogue on Canning Street. It was rebuilt in 1911. In 1856, David Joseph Ezra and Ezekiel Judah built the Beth El Synagogue on Pollock Street. It was rebuilt and extended in 1886 by Elias Shalom Gubbay.[1] In 1884, Elias David Joseph Ezra built the Magen David Synagogue in memory of his father David Joseph Ezra. To visit the synagogues, a permission is required from David Nahoum, one of the last remaining Jews who runs the famous confectionery (Nahoums) at the New Market.
Jewish Cemetery
The Jewish Cemetery in Kolkata is located on 45, Narkeldanga Main Road.The first recorded death in the Kolkata Jewish community was Moses de Pas, an emissary from Safad, now in Israel, who died in Kolkata in 1812.[2]
Notable persons
- David Joseph Ezra
- Elias David Joseph Ezra
- J F R Jacob
- David Jacob Cohen, Jewish Member of the Bengal Legislative Council
- (Hakham) Ezra Reuben David Barook, a High Priest in Jerusalem in 1856. He travelled to India and settled in Calcutta.
- Ramah Luddy, Principal of the Jewish Girls' School, Calcutta, Zionist, Worked for St. John's Ambulance
- Hannah Sen, Founder Member of the Lady Irwin College, New Delhi, alumnus of the Jewish Girls School, noted public figure and social worker
- Regina Guha, First Jewish Principal of the Girls' School, first Lady Lawyer in the Community
- Matilda Cohen, first graduate from Bethune School
- Iris Moses, Principal of Sir Romesh Mitter School in Calcutta, MSc BT in Geography, Organized the Girls' Guide Movement in England
- Sally Lewis Meyer, Teacher of Botany at Bethune College, Calcutta (1937-1959), educated in Taxonomy at Kew Gardens, England, founder-member of the Zionist youth group Habonim
- Ezra Arakie, barrister and Cambridge graduate, educationist, founder-member of the Elias Meyer Free School and Talmud Torah
- Aaron Joseph Curlender, Philanthropist
- Aaron Toric Rodney Neville Zacahriah, Group Captain in the Indian Air Force
- Sonny Solomon, Flying Officer in the RAF, killed during mission over Nazi Germany, 1945
- Lt. David Ezra, British Indian Army, Killed in Malaya
References
Elias Flower and Judith Cooper Elias: The Jews of Calcutta Autobiography of a Community 1792-1947, Calcutta
Shalva Weil Ed: India's Jewish Heritage, Ritual, Art and Life Cycle, Marg Publishers, Mumbai Jael Silliman: Jewish Portraits Indian Frames Women's Narrative From a Diaspora of Hope, Seagull, Calcutta Dalia Ray: Calcutta's Jewish Heritage, Minerva, Calcutta Kaustav Chakrabarti: Glimpses into the Jewish World of Calcutta 1798-1948, Readers Service, Kolkata Mavis Hyman: Jews of the Raj, Bristol, UK Sally Solomon Luddy: Hooghly Tales Nathan Katz Ed: Who are the Jews of India? University of California Press
